Paint-making notes

So I spent some time working with the old “putrido” recipe described in this post.

First I made titanium white egg tempera by grinding egg yolk (with a little water added) to titanium white pigment. I used a frosted glass muller, grinding on a marble slab. Following the recipe, I made it stiffer than I would if I were going to paint with it in egg tempera. Then I used a palette knife to mix it in approximately equal parts with some tube flake white (Doak’s flake 1c). (I don’t work with lead white in powder form.) I mulled the mixture on the slab. As the recipe predicted, the paint instantly became very stiff—much stiffer than either of the two ingredients before mulling. The recipe suggests adding oil, emulsion, or water. I added more egg yolk (emulsion) until the paint became workable. I mulled for several minutes and transferred it to my palette. It was quite thick.

Then I made some burnt sienna oil paint by mulling in linseed oil. I tried making egg tempera by mixing egg yolk with pigment/water paste, but it was very thin. I added a bit of dry pigment. Then I followed the same procedure, mixing the oil paint with the egg tempera in equal proportions. Again, it stiffened instantly. This time I added a bit of oil and, when that didn’t do the trick, a little water. After mulling this mixture for a few minutes, I transferred it to my palette. Again, it was very thick.

Then I tried painting with it. The paint alone was unworkably thick and pasty. It mixed easily with water, however. I was able to paint loosely. It handled similarly to other tempera grassa recipes I’ve worked with when thinned with water. Easier to blend than egg tempera, but not so smooth as oil paint. I could imagine using this for a lean underpainting.

Conclusions:

• Overall, this was not a success. The paint is not manageable without a lot of thinning down. It is not superior to other recipes that are easier to make. On the other hand, this was my first time. Next time, I will experiment by adding more oil to the mixture. It should still be water-mixable even with considerably more oil than I used.
• This is time-consuming. It would only be worth doing if I could make up a palette of colors and get them to last for at least a week or two before becoming bad or, well, putrid. The recipe suggests a few drops of clove oil. That would preserve the egg yolk and act as a retarder for the oil. The problem, potentially, is that the clove oil would retard the drying of the oil component of the paint after it’s been applied to the painting. That might slow the process of applying multiple layers. Another possibility would be to add a few drops of white wine vinegar.
• In terms of time, this will really only work for me with tempera mixed with tube paint. I don’t have time to grind my own fresh oil paint routinely, although that would probably produce superior results.
• Thus, I need to learn how to make more workable paint, and learn to make it last.

Update

24 June 2008: Applied thinly, the paint was completely dry the next day. It definitely has potential, at least for underpainting.

Also of interest

• Making gesso (2)
• Tempera grassa 2 (0)
• Tempera grassa 1 (9)
• Keeping oil paint fresh (5)
• Doak’s cristallo medium (5)